Medal System

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Wing Commander tracks the player's 'kill points' for each mission and uses this value to assign medals. Every enemy ship ship destroyed by the player is assigned a value based on its class and when the number of kill points reaches a scripted threshold at the end of a mission a medal is awarded.

Medal Graphics

Medal Art
Bronze Star WC Medal - Bronze Star.png
Bronze Star Bar WC Medal - Bronze Star Bar.png
Silver Star WC Medal - Silver Star.png
Silver Star Bar WC Medal - Silver Star Bar.png
Gold Star WC Medal - Gold Star.png
Gold Star Bar WC Medal - Gold Star Bar.png
Golden Sun WC Medal - Golden Sun.png
Medal of Valor WC Medal - Valor.png

Design

The design for Wing Commander's medal system was first presented in Wingleader Medals and Ribbons.

Wingman Death Bug

There are three instances in the Vega Campaign where an award is possible only when your wingman is killed. This is because the game deducts fifteen points from the overall 'mission point' score and then assigns that value back to the 'kill points' used for determining awards. The system for scoring mission points is very similar to kill points but it also awards 25 points for each enemy ace killed. As a result, killing an ace and also losing your wingman in Brimstone 2, Venice 1 or Hell's Kitchen 4 can result in a net gain of ten or more points and reaching the otherwise impossible scripted medal thresholds for those missions.

Scoring

Ship Score
Salthi 7 points
Dralthi 10 points
Krant 10 points
Rapier 10 points
Gratha 15 points
Jalthi 15 points
Dorkir 15 points
Lumbari 15 points
Drayman 15 points
Ralari 25 points
Exeter 25 points
Fralthi 50 points
Snakeir 50 points
Sivar 75 points
Star Post 75 points

Tally

Campaign Bronze Silver Gold Valor Total
Vega 9 13 6 2 30
The Secret Missions 2 1 1 0 4
Crusade 2 2 4 1 9
Super Wing Commander 2 2 1 0 5
Total 15 18 12 3 48

Notes

  • While there are 30 possible medals in the Vega Campaign, the most that can be awarded in a single play through is 20 (7 Bronze, 9 Silver, 3 Gold and 1 Medal of Valor). The path is Enyo to Gateway to Chengdu to Brimstone to Port Hedland to Hubble's Star to Rostov to Venice.
  • Following Carl LaFong's 'canon' path from Wing Commander I & II: The Ultimate Strategy Guide awards a total of 15 medals: 5 Bronze, 7 Silver, 2 Gold and 1 Medal of Valor (Enyo, McAuliffe, Brimstone, Dakota, Kurasawa, Rostov and Venice). Of these, he would not have earned the Silver Stars at Brimstone 2 or Venice 1 as his wingmen were not killed. The only medal explicitly mentioned as being awarded in the guide is the Bronze Star for Enyo 2.

Possible Medals

Vega Campaign

Mission Medal Score Notes
Enyo 2 Bronze Star 50 points
McAuliffe 2 Bronze Star 65 points
McAuliffe 3 Silver Star 80 points
Gateway 2 Silver Star 70 points
Gateway 3 Silver Star 55 points
Gimle 1 Gold Star 80 points
Gimle 3 Bronze Star 80 points
Brimstone 2 Silver Star 100 points Requires wingman's death and ace kill
Brimstone 3 Bronze Star 91 points
Chengdu 1 Gold Star 90 points
Chengdu 2 Bronze Star 90 points
Chengdu 3 Silver Star 95 points
Dakota 1 Silver Star 121 points
Dakota 2 Silver Star 91 points
Dakota 3 Gold Star 141 points
Port Hedland 1 Bronze Star 91 points
Port Hedland 2 Silver Star 91 points
Port Hedland 3 Gold Star 205 points
Kurasawa 2 Silver Star 90 points
Rostov 1 Bronze Star 120 points
Rostov 2 Silver Star 105 points
Rostov 3 Gold Star 110 points
Hubble's Star 1 Silver Star 125 points
Hubble's Star 2 Bronze Star 130 points
Hubble's Star 3 Silver Star 130 points
Venice 1 Silver Star 165 points Requires wingman's death and ace kill
Venice 3 Bronze Star 125 points
Venice 4 Medal of Valor 245 points
Hell's Kitchen 2 Gold Star 145 points
Hell's Kitchen 4 Medal of Valor 220 points Requires wingman's death and ace kill

The Secret Missions

Mission Medal Score
Goddard 2 Silver Star 100 points
Jotunheim 3 Bronze Star 0 points
Valgard 3 Bronze Star 0 points
Vigrid 2 Gold Star 200 points

Crusade

Mission Medal Score
Firekka (Series 1) 1 Bronze Star 120 points
Firekka (Series 2) 1 Silver Star 200 points
Firekka (Series 2) 2 Bronze Star 183 points
Firekka (Series 3) 1 Gold Star 200 points
Corsair (Series 4) 1 Silver Star 250 points
Corsair (Series 6) 1 Gold Star 275 points
Corsair (Series 7) 2 Gold Star 277 points
Charon (Series 8) 1 Gold Star 250 points
Charon (Series 9) 1 Medal of Valor 100 points

Super Wing Commander

Mission Medal Score
Cairo 3 Silver Star 80 points
Anchorage 2 Bronze Star 70 points
Anchorage 3 Silver Star 55 points
Jakarta 2 Bronze Star 80 points
Jakarta 3 Gold Star 80 points

Impossible Medals

By design, Wing Commander assigns a medal for every mission but in many cases the required score can not be achieved. In many cases this is clearly an intentional decision to prevent the game from awarding a medal in practice by giving a required score of thousands of points. In some cases missions have scores which are much lower and may have been intended to award medals at some point.

Vega Campaign

Mission Medal Score
Enyo 1 Bronze Star 2000 points
McAuliffe 1 Bronze Star 2000 points
Gateway 1 Bronze Star 2000 points
Gimle 2 Bronze Star 2000 points
Brimstone 1 Bronze Star 2000 points
Kurasawa 1 Silver Star 185 points
Kurasawa 3 Gold Star 161 points
Venice 2 Gold Star 190 points
Hell's Kitchen 1 Bronze Star 160 points
Hell's Kitchen 3 Silver Star 161 points

The Secret Missions

Mission Medal Score
Goddard 1 Bronze Star 9000 points
Border Zone 1 Bronze Star 9000 points
Border Zone 2 Bronze Star 9065 points
Midgard 1 Bronze Star 9000 points
Midgard 2 Silver Star 9070 points
Jotunheim 1 Bronze Star 9000 points
Jotunheim 2 Bronze Star 9065 points
Bifrost 1 Bronze Star 9000 points
Bifrost 2 Silver Star 9000 points
Valgard 1 Bronze Star 9000 points
Valgard 2 Silver Star 9000 points
Vigrid 1 Silver Star 9650 points
Retreat 1 Bronze Star 9600 points
Retreat 2 Gold Star 9405 points

Crusade

Mission Medal Score
Firekka (Series 1) 2 Bronze Star 9999 points
Firekka (Series 3) 2 Bronze Star 9999 points
Corsair (Series 4) 2 Bronze Star 9999 points
Firekka (Series 5) 1 Bronze Star 9999 points
Firekka (Series 5) 2 Bronze Star 9999 points
Corsair (Series 6) 2 Bronze Star 9999 points
Corsair (Series 7) 1 Bronze Star 9999 points
Charon (Series 8) 2 Bronze Star 9999 points
Charon (Series 9) 2 Bronze Star 9999 points

Super Wing Commander

The final mission of Super Wing Commander, Jakarta 4, is scripted to award the player a Bronze Star for scoring 0 points. The game ends on an in-flight cutscene instead of a debriefing so no medal ceremony can occur.

Mission Medal Score
Tartarus 1 Bronze Star 2000 points
Tartarus 2 Bronze Star 2000 points
Cairo 1 Bronze Star 2000 points
Cairo 2 Bronze Star 2000 points
Anchorage 1 Bronze Star 2000 points
Jakarta 1 Gold Star 2000 points
Jakarta 4 Bronze Star 0 points